Cellular Connection
by Alana West
Summary: When Tadashi moves to dorm at college, Hiro is left to his own devices. Their only connection is through the cell phone; their only conversations were brief as each lived their own lives. That is, until Tadashi comes home and finds his little brother's stash of illegally earned money. Then their relationship grows strained.
1. Pilot

"Hey, Tadashi. You there?"

"…Hiro, I was in class. Did you need something?"

"Oh, sorry. Um, when can I call you back?"

"In an hour, I guess. Are you lonely? Hug Mochi for me, alright, kiddo?"

"Right. I will."

 _Click._

* * *

"Hiro! You didn't call me back."

"Oh, sorry. What time is… oh, wow. I lost track of time."

"Lost track of time? Doing what?"

"Oh, you know. Building robots and stuff."

"Cool. My little brother's still building awesome inventions?"

"They're not that cool compared to yours."

"Haha, Hiro that's - shoot, Honey needs me. Call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay.

 _Click._

* * *

"Hi, Hiro! How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"Good. Hey, you're not staying out late, are you?"

"Huh? No. Why?"

"There's been reports of bot-fights and… well, normal fights, I guess. The police have been catching them all over the city."

"Wow. That sucks."

"It does. Be safe, bro."

"I will."

 _Click._

* * *

"Hey, Hiro! How's school going?"

"Good, I guess…?"

"Good as in… good grades? Making friends?"

"Um, I graduated. Last year. You know?"

"What?! But you just went to high school last year!"

"Yeah. Senior level."

"Oh man, why didn't Aunt Cass tell me anything? Usually she brings the whole neighborhood to stuff like that!"

"Uh…"

"Hiro…"

"I may or may not be pretending to still be in school."

"Really?"

"What? Come on, she literally brings the whole neighborhood. I didn't want that at my graduation."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew."

"I'm so sorry, Hiro-"

"No, it's fine. Gotta go."

"Wait-"

 _Click._

* * *

"Hiro! Guess what? I'm moving back home next semester!"

"Uh-huh… What?"

"Isn't that awesome? I've missed you so much!"

"Right. That's cool."

"Hiro? Is anything wrong?"

"Nope. Uh… How far away is next semester?"

"In a week."

"Oh. Wow. Hey, bro, I've got to help Aunt Cass out in the store, and clean out the room, and… Yeah. Talk to you later!"

"Alright, see you soon!"

"Haha, yeah…"

 _Click._

* * *

"Hiro…"

"Uh, wrong number."

"Hold on hold on hold on, I did not get the wrong number. Hiro, where are you at three o'clock in the morning?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I got to come home earlier than I thought, and you're not here. Wait, is that cheering in the background?"

"Look, I gotta go. I'll explain later."

"Hiro Hamada, don't you dare hang up-"

 _Click._

* * *

"Hiro."

"Yeah?"

"Open up."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know you're in the closet."

"I'm what?"

"You can't hide. You're bot-fighting, aren't you? I found the wad of money beneath your bed."

"And?"

"And what?"

"And what else did you find? I could've earned that from a side job I didn't tell you guys about."

"Look, Hiro, you don't have a job. I know this for a fact so if you don't open up right now you're grounded."

"So if I open up now I'm good?"

"No."

"Right. Bro, I'm not in the closet. I'm in the attic."

"…I knew that. Don't move."

"I'm moving."

"Don't go anywhere."

"Oh wow. The lights of the city are beautiful at night."

"Are you on the roof?!"

"Well, no, technically I'm crawling down the pipe right now…"

"Hiro!"

"Don't worry, Mochi's right below me."

"Like that makes it all better."

"It does. I bet he's fat enough to cushion my fall."

"That would kill the poor cat. I'm in the attic. Oh my god, how did you get that far already?"

"Practice, bro. Practice. See ya!"

"Agh! Hiro!"

 _Click._


	2. Trial and Error

Hiro didn't much like being the center of attention. All he'd ever needed was his brother, but then that brother decided to go to college.

Naturally, Tadashi was too busy to come.

So there Hiro stood, beside a podium with a microphone angled a little too high, watched by unfamiliar parents and faculty. So he shrugged to himself and started speaking. His voice carried well enough in the awkward silence.

When someone came up to try to adjust the microphone, he ignored them.

His speech was short, clipped, but Hiro had done his best to fit as much sarcasm and disdain as possible into it. The applause was scattered, ending quickly.

He didn't care. He was finally done with school. He sat in a chair and didn't bother smiling, instead choosing to stare at the ceiling.

The ceremony lasted for what felt like ages, but eventually he could go. He walked back home, past Aunt Cass bustling through the cafe with a tray in her hands, and up into the attic where half the room was partitioned off. That was full of Tadashi's stuff that he left behind.

Hiro shook his head. He grabbed his remote and collapsed in a chair, bringing his robot to life with a whir. He made it bow, clap, and start dancing in a jerky fashion. He grew bored of it quickly, tossing the remote aside with disgust.

Now what was he supposed to do?

A little voice in the corner of his head said he could go to college now, and see Tadashi again.

He ignored the voice. He didn't want to go to college. It would be just like school - people telling him stuff he already knew.

People disliking him because he was smarter than them.

He spun his chair to face his computer, bringing it to life with a click of the mouse. He scrolled through recent news - some billionaire started construction on a building - and then started going through different websites. So many advertised new and improved robots, but every one of them was trash in his eyes.

Hiro noticed one particular advertisement: Will Win Any Bot-Fight!

"Aren't bot-fights illegal?" Hiro muttered, sitting back. He looked it up and blinked. "Huh. It's only illegal to _bet_ on bot-fights… Everything else is fair game." Energized, he sat back up and hacked into the system, pulling up scheduled bot-fights in his area.

With a grin, Hiro grabbed a screwdriver and turned to face his little bot. It was time to make some upgrades.

First he painted a little angry face opposite the original smiling face, then he went to work modifying his remote. After all, a little hustle would make him even more money if he played his cards right.

He made it look simpler, and programmed it so that in 'regular' mode his control would be flimsy and weak. Then he made a voice command to activate the robot's higher functions.

Lastly he went downstairs, keeping an eye on Aunt Cass as he took a roll of money from the safe beneath the counter.

It was alright.

He'd win it all back and then some anyway. Hiro darted out of the cafe, robot gripped tightly in his hand.

This was way better than school. He might learn something useful for once.

* * *

Mental note to self: school teaches you nothing about the real world. Hiro looked down at his ribs where, beneath his now-dirty jacket and shirt, there were fresh bruises blooming. Luckily none of them got to his face, otherwise he'd have a lot of explaining to do to Aunt Cass.

He sat on a bench and closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he did wrong. Humans were hard to figure out, but he had an idea of what went wrong.

For starters, Hiro realized he may have acted too disdainful and confident when approaching the bot-fight. It was supposed to be a hustle, and anyway, grown-ups and teens didn't like it when they weren't shown respect.

Alright.

He could pretend to be pathetic.

Without a second thought Hiro got back up and headed for the next site. This was an experiment, after all. He had to fix the problems step by step, no matter how many times he had to do it again.

The next time it didn't work that well either. He offered too much money at the start, causing them to laugh and dismiss him, only to find him and beat him up later.

Damn, he owed Aunt Cass a lot of money now.

Hiro was a little more successful the next few times. The trick was just enough patheticness where the guy thought he was earning a bit of pocket change, as well as showing a newbie a lesson. Then he would offer enough money for the guy to fight him again. Hiro started to realized that he clearly needed to find some way to escape after his hustle was complete.

At first he considered finding himself a motorcycle, but then dismissed the thought. That was likely to get stolen in the streets of downtown San Fransokyo.

He was still too young to drive, and a bike wouldn't get him out as fast as he would need to go.

Options were limited for a twelve-year-old boy with a high school degree.

Hiro fiddled with his robot, thinking. He'd found himself a nice spot on a bench in front of some shopping mall, but he wished he could figure out the problem already. Hiro wasn't used to not knowing the answer, and he thought with some chagrin that he'd never encountered a problem with so many uncontrollable variables before.

He sighed. On top of it all, while he'd been busy tackling his hustle problem, somehow Tadashi had gotten in his head that he should move back home.

That was great. He should be thrilled.

Except that now Tadashi would be home sometimes, which meant Hiro would have to put in extra work to not get caught.

Hiro shrugged carelessly as he stood. Trial and error - one of the first things he learned. Maybe he'd figure it out if he just kept trying and trying.

Or he could go home, program a simulator, and observe from there.

No, humans never reacted the way they should. A simulator was too predictable. Resigned, Hiro checked his phone for the closest location.

To his surprise, it was actually close to Tadashi's university. He entertained the idea of stopping by before dismissing it. He didn't remember when his brother's classes were, and it would be pretty awkward to just stop by out of nowhere.

Hiro decided on a different bot-fight instead. A little out of the way, but still within walking distance.

* * *

When the phone vibrated in his pocket, Hiro answered without thinking. When he heard his brother's voice, he almost had a heart attack.

"Hiro…" came Tadashi's voice from the other end.

Panicking, he said stupidly, "Uh, wrong number."

"Hold on hold on hold on, I did not get the wrong number," Tadashi said sternly. Hiro was having trouble concentrating, holding his phone in one hand and controlling his robot with the other. "Hiro, where are you at three o'clock in the morning?"

Was it that time already? "What are you talking about?" Hiro asked, forcing a laugh. He directed his robot to tear off the other's arm.

"I got to come home earlier than I thought, and you're not here. Wait," Tadashi said, sounding suspicious. "Is that cheering in the background?"

Hiro bit back his first reaction, which was to scream NO at the top of his lungs, and instead told his brother, "Look, I gotta go. I'll explain later."

"Hiro Hamada, don't you dare hang up-"

He nudged the phone closed and tucked it in his pocket, just at the other robot pinned his own down completely. He tried in vain to move his bot, but they couldn't budge. With a frustrated groan he conceded defeat.

"Go back home to your momma," his opponent leered, grabbing the cash from the proffered plate. "You don't deserve to be here."

Wordlessly, Hiro grabbed his bot and left.

* * *

After that last failed experiment, Hiro tried to be more careful about hiding his actions. But like any older brother, Tadashi grew concerned and quickly uncovered his illegal activities.

So now Hiro was hiding in the attic like a coward, waiting for his older brother to storm up the stairs. To his surprise, his phone rang instead.

"Hiro."

"Yeah?" Hiro said, calming his pounding heart.

"Open up."

Hiro glanced at the open stairway with some amusement. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know you're in the closet."

"I'm what?" Hiro said, not entirely sure he heard correctly.

The following conversation was bizarre and strange, so Hiro quietly opened the window and crawled out, deciding this was as good a time to escape as any. When Tadashi frantically asked if he was on the roof he replied laughingly, "Well, no, technically I'm crawling down the pipe right now."

"Hiro!" Tadashi's frantic voice came from both the phone propped on his shoulder and the windows above.

"Don't worry," Hiro said in what he knew was in a not at all reassuring way, "Mochi's right below me." He glanced down at where the pudgy orange and white cat sat.

"Like that makes it all better."

"It does. I bet he's fat enough to cushion my fall," Hiro speculated.

Tadashi sighed. "That would kill the poor cat." Some rustling in the background, then he added, "I'm in the attic - oh my god, how did you get that far already?"

Hiro looked up and grinned. "Practice, bro!" he shouted up towards his older brother. "Practice!"

"Agh! Hiro!"

He hung up and jumped the rest of the way down, unable to resist a little wave of farewell before darting down a side street, eager to put as much distance between them before Tadashi could follow.

Hiro was glad he'd disabled Tadashi's tracker in his phone beforehand. It might have been a little trickier to manage that feat out on the streets.

Hiro was also a little peeved Tadashi had figured it out before he could return the money. Now he had to try and make enough money to eat while simultaneously trying to hold onto the amount he 'borrowed' from Aunt Cass. They would probably think he was already planning to run, that paranoid pair.

He gave a little sigh of exasperation.


End file.
